What's workin' now?

[Matt Johnson]

You break ice Corey? I hear Tonka is good even after a layer of ice forms

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Good Fishin,
Matt Johnson
Pro Staff Coordinator
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[The Grebe]

CB....I did'nt want to put the boat away! I have no fishing partners during the week and I'am usually eyeball deep in work on the week-end.

One of my pards is a tree trimmer and he went to Florida with his clam truck to work the hurricane damage. We also golf together, so that took care of that also.

My other bud hurt his back and is having some difficulty. Another is one of my employees, so that is out of the question unless we have a rain day.

Some got to old, some got to weird, some got to married, some got to casinoised, so
during the week, unless someone takes off work, I'm solo!

I've fought that 16 foot boat by myself enough, through all this wind we have had
and I'am making a little transition, I'm not stopping!

One door closes and another opens!

[Lost]

Corey, you should send that last photo in to KARE-11. I'm sure they'd love to show it on television!

[Corey Bechtold]

Lost, where should I send Bailey's picture?

Corey Bechtold

[The Grebe]

"Oh, oh? Shesa no lookin to goot!" So far my old reliable, shore fishing Crappie spot, is'nt panning out?

The reliable becomes unreliable! I'll give it a couple more shots, space it out a little and see if it does'nt break loose here in the week or so to come?

Cheez, if I don't get busy, horrors of horrors, I'll have to go buy some Pollack fillets from Cub! Ocean Perch? Maybe some Haddock? Hey, I might do that anyways, sounds pretty good to me!

[Corey Bechtold]

Grebe, has your lake turned over? If it has I'd give it a week of two and give it another shot. Those fish will come back after everything settles down.

Corey Bechtold

[The Grebe]

No it had'nt turned? At least it did'nt appear that it did? I thought that it was in pre turn over, because the water was still pretty dirty...seems like it's late for some reason this year?

Usually the water is clearing up by now and in the past, those nice healthy looking Crappies are right there...we have fished them right up to the time the reel lub and finger lub starts getting stiff!

If it was'nt for this wind, I would have went out again this A.M. What I lack in knowledge I make up for in persistance! If you throw enough punches, something is bound to land!

[The Grebe]

You know guys....I think I'm getting addicted to this FM site....when I get down to this section, I know I'am close to being done and I will have to wait until the evening to check it out for anything new...and I look forward to it!

Cheez, I think I'm gonna have to admit myself to some kind of care facility!

[united jigsticker]

It's massaging indeed.

The weather is brutal, but I think I am going to dig out the winter gear and get her back on the water one of these days.

I have broken ice in the fall like Corey, and in the spring too...But maybe not this year, as the boat is only 2 weeks old.

Why do we baby everything for the 1st year and then suddenly use the !!!! out of it???

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[The Grebe]

CT....You sure got that right! I sometimes come down here with the intent of doing a little research on one thing, or another and I wind up checking out the forums and I don't feel one bit guilty about it!

I don't drink, smoke, or chew anymore, swear a little, so this little indulgence is'nt going to hurt anything!

[CrappieJohn]

You are already a partof the best care facility around. This site is nothing but therapudic.

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[The Grebe]

Well it certainly has'nt been what I've been pitching at em,

3 trips, 3 Crappies!

I've caught other stuff, Sunnies, Walleyes, Bass, Bullhead, Dogfish and Northerns. Speaking of Northerns, this weather must really agree with them...I caught 2 of them today, fishing for Crappies. The fish were about 4-5 pounds each and they were the healthiest, most vividly colored pike I've seen in quite awhile, just beautiful!

Today was a C&R day, as the last several have been...if I can't get a half dozen good Crappies, or a couple of nice wallys...everything lives to fight another day!

I did manage to wrangle one lonely Crappie, about a pound, I guess I'll have to start concentrating on the waldos?

[Matt Johnson]

Grebe,

Thats still a good multi species day. Sounds like you had fun none the less. Good reports! Thanks.

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[Lost]

Quote:

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Lost, where should I send Bailey's picture? <P>Corey Bechtold

---

Sorry it took so long for me to get back to ya. Send the photo to Belinda Jensen: [email protected].

Might help if you tell her a little bit about how the photo came to be. I'm sure she'll love it! Might even show it on television too!

[Corey Bechtold]

I'll give it a try Lost. It would be interesting if it makes it on TV.

Corey Bechtold

[Matt Johnson]

Lost,

I like your avatar

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[Lost]

Thanks. I stole it from a t-shirt company.

[The Grebe]

Today was a pretty good day for me! I was supposed to go up north, but the wind and the soggy start to the day, pretty much put the damper on that!

Well, while sitting at my desk, (The kitchen table) doing some billing and other paper work from yesterday, I got to thinking about Crappie Toms post on back water fishing. That post and another I had come across earlier in the week, set the wheels in motion and I decided to try a spot in the river.

Using some knowledge I gleaned from this site, and a little of my own, I got onto all kinds of fish today! As usual, I was by myself again, nephew snafu'ed his end!

Hows this for a mixed bag...2 Yellow Bullheads, 1 Black Bullhead, 8 Rockbass, 1 Smallmouth Bass, 1 Walleye, 1 Warmouth, about 15 Bluegills, (mostly small, 6" had 1 that went about 8") 6 Beautiful Black Crappies, 2 that went 12 inches, and 6 Northerns, the biggest going about 5 pounds.

I missed a ton of fish, was cut off half a dozen times, even caught a pike that had cut me off earlier and got my jig head back!

I got one pike about 4 pounds, that had just about wound up as dinner to something huge, a Muskie, or another huge Northern...cut up and scraped up pretty good for about a foot of his body!

The Crappies were the thing though, they were beautiful fish...they were the target and I hit the bullseye! They would'nt touch anything artifical, today they had to have meat! It could be hooked to a jig head, but it had to be real.

What I finally figured out was that they wanted a minnow, back hooked, and drifting...not just any minnow, it had to be pretty good sized...I was getting them on fatheads, they would'nt touch a crappie minnow? One of the posts I read had mentioned this and hey, it works!

If I keep reading all the excellent material in these FM posts, I may turn into a pretty good fisherman yet, there's still hope!

One last note...how can something the color of a Crappie, your standard black and white, be so danged appealing to the eye? They are like some kind of jewel, shimmering in the water?

[delmuts]

hey grebe! don't they just sparkle some times ? del

[The Grebe]

delmuts....Yes they do....the picture with Corey Bechtolds

little daughter holding those two beautiful Crappies, is a prize winner. I don't know what it is about them, but man, they sure look nice! They have different hues once in awhile...Black, White, Yellow, Blue and Purple..."I like Crappies, I like em alot"!

[united jigsticker]

Yep. I like the olive green Crappies that you get in June after the spawn.

Like you said, Corey's fish really look super!

[CrappieJohn]

Corey has just spent a weekend with myself and Jimmy Burns from the Mississippi River forum. Yesterday we fished the backwaters for the crappies and sunfish and found the crappies quite elusive. Many smaller ones were taken, but we ended the day with only one decent one. Sunfish were very eager to save the day though and Corey got to take home a nice bagfull of fillets. Most of the fish were taken on hair jigs. Plastic got a few , but those fish were tough to come by.

Today Jimmy and I gave Corey a lesson on river waldo/sauger angling, but again the plastic was no doing well. Blade baits stole the show and we each got to take home fish for dinner.

Thanks Coery for coming down and sharing your time with us. We had an excellent time and hope that this is only one of many such trips to be had.

[The Grebe]

Ooops!! Forgot the color green, noticed that in some I got again today...Day was nice, fishing pretty slow, standard pike,Rockbass and Bullheads...got 3 Specks and a 3# Wally.

Same approach as yesterday.

[Corey Bechtold]

Anybody been out lately? I have been chasing the Walleyes and been having some luck. I can't wait to get back on the Crappies and Sunfish!

Corey Bechtold

[delmuts]

i've been fishing a little lake near me. a couple of the guys have been pounding the craps.i started to figure them out yesturday. they wanted only white in either a hair jig or a small plastic with a fine thin tail.( what the on eguy has , looks like a rat fincky(sp) but with a longer tail.) i started using a little plastic i think called a spike.it is just a little sliver of a tail. depth varied from just sub surface ( at day break) to 6-8 ft. in 10 ft of water. as it gets lighter.del